The Penn's Grove record., 1887-07-02
OLD AND QurEE.
Interesting Antiquities Picked IN
Near Pasadena, Cal.


While walking my horse up a hill
neal Pasadena, writes a correspondent
from California, the animal slipped on
a curiously-shaped stone protruding
from the ground and presenting a
smooth, rounded surface. l saw at a
glance that water could not have worn
it into such regular shape. l unearth-
ed it. 1t proved to be a stone dish
weighing fifteen or twenty pounds. In
shape it resembled the wooden recepta-
cles for mince meat in vogue in New
England when l was a lad. But this
strange utensil was not used in the
manufacture of mince pie. l lifted it
upon the saddle, and carried it up to
the ranch. The moment the owner
saw it he said "Wby, I've found a
cart-load of those things here. You
see" he continued, according to my
way Of thinking, my ranch is the site of
an old camping ground of people, gone
no one knows where, and l don't think
they went by degrees, either. Some
thing must have occurred to have stop
ped them all at once, as they would hard
ly leave things here that were evidently
so tedious to make. How old are they?
Well, its difficult to say, but many of
them are found two or three feet be-
low the surface not buried by man but
covered by nature, and you can judge
how long that would take rs well as L
can. Again, many of them have de-
cayed since they were made, which
looks, as though 400 or 500 years might
have gone by since they were aband-
oned."
According to my IDEAS" continued
Mr.. Giddings, "these stones were prim-
tive mills belonging to al ancient peo-
pie. Now, to give you an idea why L
think this was IN old camp, and also to
show you how much of this stuff there
is here, l will get out my plow and go
over a small bit while you follow and
see what you can find"
This suggestion was acted upon, and
soon the plow was turning up the dark
loan, into which my horse sank ankle
deep. l had not gone fifty feet before
| SAW a stone that was not as nature
had left it. 1t was about eight inches
long, and q dip In the spring close by
showed it to be polished or ground off
on both sides perfectly fiat, so that it
fitted well into the hand.
"That's a grinder" said Mr.. Gid
dings.
1.-The acorns, or nuts, or grain, what
ever it was, was put in h big dishes
and ground with these into a meal or
flour. Here's another, p" he SAID, pick
ing II out of the loan, You see 1t
is similar in shape, but is d~isintegrated
by time and ready to fall to pieces"
A few feet farther on another object
appeared, and generally where there
was one a little digging showed quite q
number this last find was a ball, and
if used as q pestle must have been con-
tinually changed about by the hand.
but it was probably used in some game,
or perhaps was a toy. Following the
pillow again a large mortar was thrown
up, having a hole in the bottom that
had been literally worn through by con-
tinuous grinding. In the course OF the
afternoon quite number of pestles and
mortars and broken parts Of the same
were unearthed, and later found many
more pieces in the bush where they had
lsen washed out by the rain. a large
number of dishes, as they were COM
monty called, were worn out, thus show
ing that the locality was a permanent
residence, and that the old wornout
dishes had been cast aside from time to
time. Some of the stones that [ col
lected and arranged in the brook had
been finely shaped, showing that the
makers had some idea of form.
The vicinity of Pasadena seems to
-ffrrve been a favorite camping grounds
for many of these ancient people ; the
spot overlooks a grand yista-a deep
canon or arroyo-the tops of the trees
being far beneath the charming spot for
a camp. Hardly a ranch or house OF
any old settler in the valley but can
boast relics Of the kind / have descrlb-
ed, that have for years been scattered
hither and you, but should be collected
in a local historical museum and pre-
served. John Giddings the owner of
the Indian camp, tells me that III vari-
GUS parts of Ventura country he has
found specimens like these and in one
locality a lady has in her possession
some stone clubs which, l think, are
unique. He describes them as being
from three and one-half to four and
one-half feet i'll length like base ball
bats in their general shape, and evident
ly weapons OF warfare though certain
" no ordinary man could lift such a
weapon to use it in battle. Ii such an
implement from this country is III any
collections in the United States, it las
escaped my notice.